Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps
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This Chicken Lettuce Wraps Recipe is a healthy meal that’s done in under 30 minutes! These Easy Chicken Lettuce Wraps are delicious and quick!
You know that we absolutely love recipes that are light, filled with veggies, and packed with flavor like our Vegetable Pasta Primavera and Mediterranean Quinoa Salad!
Enter easy these healthy lettuce wraps!
They are similar to the PF Chang’s lettuce wraps with hoisin sauce, but with an even easier sauce that still has all those delicious flavors!
These are light enough for lunch but serve with white rice or healthy fried rice for a full dinner.
Get ready for the best wraps that we know you will love!
Why you’ll love this recipe
There are so many reasons to try this recipe and here are some of the reasons we love it:
- Lower in calories – There are less than 400 calories per serving in these copycat PF Chang’s lettuce wraps.
- Quick and easy – Only 30 minutes for the most delicious lunch or low carb dinner!
- Full of flavor – All the seasonings in this recipe give the most amazing flavor to this dish!
Ingredients
To make these, you’ll need the following:
For Serving:
- butter lettuce, red cabbage, sesame seeds
Dipping Sauce:
- soy sauce, rice vinegar
- optional: sriracha, brown sugar, sesame seeds
Substitutions
Chicken Tenders: You can use ground chicken (instructions in the recipe) or chicken breast or chicken thighs in place of chicken tenders. If you would like to use ground beef, try our Ground Beef Lettuce Wraps.
Soy Sauce: You can use coconut aminos in place of soy sauce for a gluten free/ lower sodium alternative.
Dipping Sauce: The dipping sauce is optional but delicious. If you love garlic, try pressing a small clove of garlic into the dipping sauce, or add ¼ teaspoon garlic powder. You could also serve with this Keto Hoisin Sauce!
Boston lettuce: Boston lettuce will hold up a bit better than butter lettuce, use Boston if you can find it. You can also use mini romaine heart leaves, leafy romaine, or iceberg.
Chopped Water Chestnuts: If you can’t find chopped water chestnuts, throw a can of sliced water chestnuts in the food processor with the chicken and let the food processor do the work. You can also omit them.
Broccoli: If you need to hide the broccoli, try adding it right into the food processor with the chicken. You can also omit it.
Other veggies: You can add heartier veggies like mushrooms, chopped zucchini, or finely diced red bell pepper at the beginning with the chicken. Add slivered snow peas, green peas, fresh corn, or bean sprouts at the end of cooking the chicken.
Green Onions: Green onions are optional. You can also try finely chopped cilantro as a garnish if you have it on hand.
Doubling the Recipe: If you need to double the recipe, it would be best to cook the chicken in two batches. If you add all of the chicken and veggies at once, it will steam cook the chicken and will not brown.
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil, butter, or ghee.
Why use chicken tenderloins and not ground chicken?
You can use store bought ground chicken, but it often contains preservatives (usually rosemary) which negatively affect the taste of the chicken. When the meat is ground up, it exposes more fibers of the meat to the air, which also produces a more “gamey” flavor.
Chicken tenderloins are also less expensive, and more forgiving under high heat (It will still be tender even if you overcook it a tiny bit).
What lettuce is best for Chicken Lettuce Wraps?
Boston lettuce is best for lettuce wraps. Boston lettuce will hold up a bit better than butter lettuce, use Boston if you can find it. You can also use mini romaine heart leaves, leafy romaine, or iceberg.
How to make Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Place the chicken tenders, shredded carrot, green onion whites, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, sesame oil, pepper, ginger, and chili flakes into the bowl of a food processor.
- Pulse until chicken is in small pieces, scraping down as needed, about 10 pulses. It’s ok if a few chunks are larger.
- Preheat a 12” heavy skillet or wok over medium high heat. Add olive oil and heat for one minute. Add the ground chicken/veggie mixture, broccoli, water chestnuts, onion and garlic.
- Continue cooking, breaking the chicken into small pieces, until cooked through and no pink remains, about 8 minutes. Add the green tops of the green onions and stir.
- Optional: In a small bowl, whisk together the dipping sauce ingredients and set aside. If using sriracha, start with ¼ teaspoon, taste, and adjust as needed.
- Assemble the wraps with chicken on a piece of lettuce with green onions and cabbage. Serve with dipping sauce.
How do you prepare lettuce for wraps?
To prepare lettuce for wraps, make sure to wash it thoroughly. Dry gently with a paper towel.
How to cut lettuce for wraps
You shouldn’t cut lettuce for lettuce wraps. It’s easiest to gently break the lettuce off the head close to the core of it. You can slice very close to the base of the lettuce head if it’s easier.
Suggested Sides
How to Store Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Refrigerating: You can store leftover cooked chicken filling in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Don’t assemble the wraps until you’re ready to eat.
Freezing: We haven’t tried freezing the filling for these butter lettuce wraps. I think it might freeze well. The vegetables may get soggy.
Reheating: You can reheat the chicken filling in a covered sauté pan on medium low heat with a splash of water, until warmed through. Or microwave in a bowl with a splash of water, covered loosely with a damp paper towel, about 45 seconds to 1 minute.
Chicken Lettuce Wrap FAQs
These are fried thin rice noodles! You can find rice noodles in the Asian cooking section of most grocery stores, I like Kame rice sticks, or Thai Kitchen thin rice noodles.
Here’s how to make them: Break off a handful of dry rice noodles, and break into small pieces. Line a sheet pan with two layers of paper towel.
Heat 1-2” of olive oil to about 325℉ in a heavy cast iron dutch oven. Use a spider or mesh ladle to drop a small amount of the broken rice noodles into the hot oil. They will immediately puff up, remove them right away and place on the paper towel as soon as they are puffed. Be careful, there may be moisture in the noodles which can cause spattering.
The best way to keep lettuce wraps from falling apart is to not overfill them. Don’t add more than 1/4 cup of filling to a lettuce wrap. It’s also best to eat lettuce wraps quickly and not let them sit for a while.
Chicken lettuce wraps vary in calories. These chicken lettuce wraps are under 400 calories per serving. Some chicken lettuce wraps are higher in calories.
Yes! Lettuce wraps are good for weight loss. They’re often low in calories and loaded with veggies!
Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 1 ¼ lb chicken tenderloins OR ground chicken
- 3 green onions
- 1 cup shredded carrot
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce sub coconut aminos if gluten free
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon light sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup broccoli crowns cut into thumbnail size florets
- 8 ounce can chopped water chestnuts drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup yellow onion diced, about one small onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic about 3 cloves garlic
For Serving:
- 1 head Boston lettuce or Butter lettuce
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 1 cup red cabbage finely shredded
Dipping Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce sub coconut aminos if gluten free
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar or raw honey- optional
- 1/2 teaspoon sriracha optional
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds optional
Instructions
- Thinly slice the green onion, separate the whites and greens. Set the green tops aside for garnish.
- If using chicken tenders: Trim the white tendon from the chicken tenders using kitchen shears, pat chicken dry with a clean paper towel, and cut into roughly 1 inch chunks.
- If using chicken tenders: Place the chicken tenders, shredded carrot, green onion whites, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, sesame oil, pepper, ginger, and chili flakes into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until chicken is in small pieces, scraping down as needed, about 10 pulses. It’s ok if a few chunks are larger.
- If using ground chicken: finely chop your carrots and green onion whites with a sharp knife. Mix together ground chicken and chopped veggies until combined. Add in 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, sesame oil, pepper, ginger, and chili flakes into the bowl. Stir until combined.
- Preheat a 12” heavy skillet or wok over medium high heat. Add olive oil and heat for one minute. Add the ground chicken/veggie mixture, broccoli, water chestnuts, onion and garlic.
- Quickly distribute the mixture around the pan, then do not stir it for 2 to 3 minutes to build a sear on the chicken and broccoli.
- Continue cooking, breaking the chicken into small pieces, until cooked through and no pink remains, about 8 minutes.
- Add the green tops of the green onions and stir.
- Optional: In a small bowl, whisk together the dipping sauce ingredients and set aside. If using sriracha, start with ¼ teaspoon, taste, and adjust as needed.
- Place about ¼ cup of the cooked chicken mixture on leaves of the lettuce, top with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and some shredded cabbage. Serve immediately with dipping sauce.
Delicious
So delicious!! I had a head of romaine lettuce to use uo and it was perfect with this recipe! Would also be good over rice. Will definitely make again!
Very good and delicious easy to make! It’s our go to recipe.
Loved this recipe! I bought a huge bag of romaine heads and was at a loss as to how to use them until I found this! Super yummy and low carb, and easily made gluten free with tamari. I used ground turkey because it was what I had, and it was wonderful. The carrots and water chestnuts gave it a great texture and crunch! 100% making these again!
So good! Really easy and quick recipe that you can make fun modifications to as well. I topped it with peanut sauce and chopped peanuts:) AMAZING
We made this using chicken tenders in a food processor. They were amazing. All my kids gobbled them up and even my neighbor (who loaned me her food processor) tried to get her spoon in! I didn’t have all the correct ingredients (I had to use white wine vinegar) and accidentally forgot the broccoli – still, this recipe is now a family fav they demand every Sunday!
I’m so glad you liked them!!